Fireflies
by Demigod444
Summary: Inspired by the song Fireflies by Owl City. After the Quarter Quell, Gale looks back on a night where he and Katniss were stuck in the woods, where he realizes his feelings toward Katniss. Katniss/Gale oneshot.


**Author's Note: I finished this at about 2AM. Writing at 2AM is a bit loopy, but I think this turned out pretty well. Or at least the loopy part of my brain does.**

I brush the dark hair out of Katniss' face. Although her body is severely ravaged by the explosion that ended the Games, she looks as beautiful as ever. While she sleeps, she looks younger; it reminds me when we went hunting, before the Capitol even knew who we were.

* * *

The verdant grass floor compresses under my boot as I walk back to the Hob, with Katniss at my side. My game bag is bursting with today's game consisting of turkeys, rabbits, and a squirrel. I know we've been out too long when darkness begins to envelop the woods.

Only a few steps away from the wire fence, Katniss sticks her hand out in front of me, stopping me mid-step. A faint buzzing noise fills my ears.

"The fence," observes the always eloquent Katniss.

Despite her lack of articulation, I understand her. As I inspect the fence, electrical sparks scamper across the metallic wire.

She wrinkles her eyebrows, as she always does while thinking. I expect her to have devised an elaborate escape plan, when she just says, "They won't keep it on long. Let's just wait."

We split up to find firewood, agreeing to meet back in the same place. After a while of searching, I return from my fruitless quest with my hands empty. One would think that with a whole forest, despite the rainfall earlier, that dry wood would not be a difficult commodity to find. Katniss is resting with her back against a magnificent oak tree, also with her hands devoid of firewood. I sit on the ground next to her, soil dirtying the back of my pants.

"Blueberry?" She asks me. I graciously accept, and she sticks a nimble hand into the pocket of her khakis, spilling blueberries onto the ground. I quickly down the first handful.

"Got any more?" I ask her.

"Enough to feed an army." She opens her windbreaker to reveal two wide pockets running down the length of her jacket, each overflowing with blueberries. "Take some."

I turn my shirt into a makeshift bowl, and Katniss pours a generous helping of blueberries into it. "Thanks, Catnip." I shove these into my mouth with as much vigor as the previous ones. When I finish, Katniss poorly attempts to stifle a laugh.

"What?" I ask.

"Your mouth is blue." She laughs.

Neither of us knows why this is funny, but I laugh along with her.

Together we watch the sun dip below the horizon. I look at Katniss as the final glints of the day's sunlight illuminate her face. I stare at her beautiful face, I glance up and down her gorgeous athletic body, and I gaze into her angelic smile. I put my arm around her and draw her close to me.

_What am I doing? _I think to myself. _Katniss? _To my surprise, she doesn't pull away from me. Although I question myself intensely, I never relinquish my closeness with her. Why my attraction to Katniss has occurred so suddenly I have no idea; all I know is that I will relish and embrace it.?

"Gale? Gale? Gaaaaaaaaaaallle?" She snaps me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I shout my response, as if I couldn't hear over my own thoughts, which in this case, I couldn't.

"I said to look at those fireflies over there." She points around the forest. There is a seemingly infinite amount of these magnificent lightning bugs flying around the woods. Their white light adds a new atmosphere, giving each aspect of the forest a fresh aesthetic; the light makes every part of the woods, from the ants scampering to their hill as fast as an ant can scamper, to the mighty, needle-covered pine trees towering above that seem to have been there for eternity.

"Aren't they beautiful?" Katniss asks me.

"Yeah."

She yawns. "I'm going to sleep."

With my arm still wrapped around her, she falls asleep next to me. She leans her hair on my shoulder, and I smile. Even her luscious, dark hair smells incredible, despite the fact that we have spent our entire Sunday hunting in the woods.

I make my best attempt at falling asleep, but looking back on today keeps me unable to sleep. We may not have sold our game at the Hob or fed it to our families, and although by the time the gate goes off it will no longer be fresh, today was by no means a wasted day.

Sleep must have eventually washed over me, because a new day's sun wakes me.

I glance over at the fence, and just as I expect, the electricity has ceased flickering through it. "Catnip," I whisper in her ear. Her eyes flutter open. "The fence isn't on."

She slowly wakes up, and together, we go home.

* * *

I get off the foot of her bed and start to leave. The light sleeper she is, Katniss stirs. "Gale," she says, "stay." She lifts up her bed sheets and I crawl in next to her. She wraps her arms around me, and I return the favor. I just barely brush her lips with mine, and we fall asleep.

**Thanks for reading it! Please review, because it really helps my writing get better. I don't mind constructive criticism, but please, no flames. Have a story suggestion? PM me and I'll write it. (As long as the idea doesn't suck.)  
**


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